ArticleOccupational and environmental medicine2018
Recurrent back pain during working life and exit from paid employment: a 28-year follow-up of the Whitehall II Study.
Article in Occupational and environmental medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Returning to work is not enough for cancer survivors: vocational rehabilitation needs to consider work-related well-being.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2026Article
- Recurrent pain among young and early midlife employees - the role of workload and health-related factors.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2025Article
- Article
- Lower back pain amongst medical trainees in clinical rotations: implications for choosing future career regarding medical practice.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery Statement: Restorative Neurostimulation for Chronic Mechanical Low Back Pain Resulting From Neuromuscular Instability.International journal of spine surgery · 2023Article
- Work-limiting musculoskeletal pain and its association with loss of paid employment among senior workers: prospective cohort study with register follow-up.European journal of public health · 2023Article
- Effect of Restorative Neurostimulation on Major Drivers of Chronic Low Back Pain Economic Impact.Neurosurgery · 2023Article
- A biopsychosocial approach assessing pain indicators among Black men.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Does it matter how we measure the health of older people in places for associations with labour market outcomes? A cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Long-term sick leave for back pain, exposure to physical workload and psychosocial factors at work, and risk of disability and early-age retirement among aged Swedish workers.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2022Article
- Article
- Fraction and Number of Unemployed Associated with Self-Reported Low Back Pain: A Nation-Wide Cross-Sectional Study in Japan.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Recurrent pain and work disability: a record linkage study.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTo examine the impact of recurrent, as compared with single, reports of back pain on exit from paid employment over decades of follow-up.
methodsThe study sample was from the British Whitehall II Study cohort (n=8665, 69% men, aged 35-55 at baseline), who had provided information about their reports of back pain between 1985 and 1994. Data about exit from paid employment (health-related and non-health related exit, unemployment and other exit) were collected between 1995 and 2013. Repeated measures logistic regression models were fitted to examine the associations, and adjust for covariates.
resultsRecurrent pain was reported by 18% of participants, while 26% reported pain on an occasion and 56% did not report pain. Report of back pain on an occasion was not associated with health-related job exit, whereas recurrent pain was associated with such an exit (OR 1.51; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.99), when compared with those who did not report pain. These associations were somewhat stronger among middle-grade and lower-grade employees, while these associations were not seen among higher-grade employees. Differences in associations by age and psychosocial working conditions were small.
conclusionsThese results highlight the need for early detection of recurrent back pain to prevent exit out of paid employment for health reasons. As the risk varies by occupational grade, this emphasises the importance of identification of high-risk groups and finding ways to address their modifiable risk factors.
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